Ok, so here it is ... one of my Project Life pages; I'm a couple of weeks behind already, but I'm really not worried about it, as normally I'm only doing one page a week.  Mind you, at the moment I'm finding doing a page is taking longer than any layout I've ever worked on!

Although I didn't buy any of the core kits, I don't really think it's too much of a problem, and I'm certainly using stash in a way I never did before.  I'm not worried about cutting it up and really playing.  So I have to say, so far ... I LOVE IT.

Yesterday, we had a whole day free, so I set myself up in my craft room, and worked on Week 5.  This was by far the busiest of weeks so far, what with our spa break and my Aunty leaving us.  So it went into 2 pages, but I still had more photos I wanted to use - plus the check-in card from our break. So I did a mini page in the middle by cutting one of the full page protectors in half.

So here it is;

Page 1

Insert side 1

Insert side 2

Page 2

Its certainly a fun way to include photos that maybe wouldn't make it onto a 12 x 12 layout ... ok, now to work on week 6 :)

Recipe Horder

One of the major projects I've set myself this year is to de-clutter. Our home not only houses our clutter, but I also have boxes and boxes of Mum & Dad's things. Well, I'm at that stage when I need to sort myself out.

Now one of the areas that needed looking at was my recipe collection, no not my cookery books, but yes they need a bit of a cull too. But I'm talking about the recipes you pull out of magazines. Trust me; there are only so many fish pies and fish cake recipes a girl needs. So, armed with my, “do I really need it” head on - I pulled out all the bits of paper and pamphlets I'd collected over the years and began to sort. Now, I'm bad enough, but at least I do cook, and love to do so. My mother on the other hand, hated cooking - even when I was a little girl, we went out to eat a lot or had take-aways. Then my mother got a microwave, and frozen dinners are what we lived on lol. All I can say is thank goodness that my Granny lived with us when I was little, so I also got home cooked foods. Anyway, I tell you this, because for some reason, although she hated cooking, she LOVED and I mean loved cookery books and collecting recipes! So again, I have hers now added to my collection.

This was my before shot ... and here's my after.

I know, I've been ruthless, but I've only kept those I really think I'll cook.  I've put them into 3 files; one for everyday, one for baking and one for seasonal/party food. Now, the everyday and baking, I'll go through after a couple of months, and if I've not used them or still haven't any plans to use them, they'll go too. The files sit happily, not taking up much room on my baking station - and I'm feeling much happier with the new arrangement.

I did really enjoy going through mum's old books though ... so much fun seeing old recipes; although, not much different really to the ones in Nigella’s and Jamie’s’ books, if I'm honest ... and I even found my first cookery book :) ... yup, I've kept that.

So, I'm happy with how my de-cluttering is going so far. My February project, which is making good waves, is sorting through mum & dads millions of photos ... although, I have a feeling that may just need to go into being March's project as well, but ... I'm getting there :)

Layout Love

I'd like to share a couple of layouts that I've done this month ... I certainly have the scrapping bug again.

This past week has certainly been a bumpy one.  I lost my wonderful Aunt, on Monday - she was my mum's older sister, and I think was at a complete loss, after mum died.  She actually had a stroke in October of last year, and never really recovered.  Still, I know she's at peace now, and I can only imagine the trouble mum and her are causing. She was a real "gad-a -bout" ... never sitting still, and I think her and I had so much in common, more than really anyone else in our family.  We both loved to bake & craft. In fact, she was the one that made our Wedding Cake ... she used to tell everyone in the home that  :) Plus, she was such a huge Clarke Gable fan, and had a photo of him by her bed ... I'm happy thinking she's met her idol now.

We also had a few days away this past week - something we couldn't cancel. It was a SPA break that we won at an auction towards the end of last year.  I'd never been to a SPA before, and wow was it amazing, I think I'm hooked - even Simon was taken by it.

I'm still continuing well with Project Life ... and actually up to date - I won't bore you with all the pages, but I will ever so often, if you don't mind.